Really... All you want them to do is look around and click. Is that so hard?
Even though you might spend a great deal of time laying out your website, sometimes your site visitors just will not click on what you wanted them to.
For example, you might spend a bit of time writing a really nice website intro for your home page, maybe talking about how happy you are that they are visiting, how great your services are, and the high quality nature of the jewelry you carry. Then below that intro you have some wonderful jewelry photos that's you're very proud of. The photos link right into your product catalog where you've even written snazzy descriptions that would compel someone to buy.
But do they click that beautiful photo? Perhaps not. Perhaps your bounce rate is unusually high at 80%.
So what's the problem with this example?
The problem is that your visitors really do not care right away about you. They don't care that you are thanking them for visiting. They don't care how great your service is or the high quality of your jewelry. You've smacked them in the face with a ton of text at the top of the page when all they wanted to do was see a pretty picture of jewelry.
Website trends are changing. Three years ago we would have told you that your home page needs a lot of written information on it for SEO purposes, and if SEO is your primary concern then you still need it.
However, people like to see large photos of jewelry on the home pages of jewelry websites. You can, and should, include all that wonderful intro text below the photo; but not at the top. Not anymore. Times have changed; website usability has changed; customer expectations have changed.
In the example above, one of the reasons we're suggesting a pretty high bounce rate of 80% is because the first thing the visitor sees is a block of words. They won't scroll down to see a pretty picture in that first split second before clicking the Back button.
The Golden Nugget for today is to include those pretty photos at the top of your home page, above the text where they can be immediately seen. And use captions so they know what they're looking at
